The point of services like Bobby is that they point out features that
may be inaccessible to people with disabilities.  The most common
technology in use for blind web users is the screen reader.  This
application scans the information on the screen and renders it into
spoken word.  Image maps and javascript rollovers may be "industry
standard" but to my knowledge, nobody has yet developed a way of
automatically recognizing what part of a javascript is valuable to
the user.
CSS at least has the advantage of being easier to ignore.

The thing to keep in mind when using a service like Bobby is that it
is designed to help you understand an audience you probably have no
experience with.  This audience has a whole different raft of
technological issues than sighted users have.  It has nothing to do
with how long a given technology has been around.  If you want to
design for users with disabilities, you need to know what they can
and can't use, and for that, Bobby is an excellent tool.


>I have examined this "excellent" service with an eye from the web
>development community.  Please be aware that there is much conflicting
>information given to the user at this site.  Those people with limited
>computer/internet literacy will be impressed with a long list of
>"official" responses.  In reality - this automated system gives
>conflicting information.
>
>For example:  It had a hard time with image maps and java script
>mouseovers.  These are standard practice in the industry and have been
>for some time. They are both backwards compatible to versions 3.0 of
>browsers.
>
>Then in contradiction the service suggested that style sheets should be
>used whenever possible.  Cascading Style Sheets are new to the industry
>and each browser reads them differently and are only backwards
>compatible to 4.0 versions of browsers.
>
>In addition:
>This service also had no idea what to do with ASP code and internal
>links to subfolders.
>
>The only piece of information I found valuable was the download time.
>
>The point of this message is then - I caution you to utilize this
>"checking system" without a trained eye to decipher the response. If you
>decide to use the results please have your local webmaster evaluate the
>results for you.

___________________________________________________________
Edward Rodley            email:           [log in to unmask]

Exhibit Planner             ph:           617.589.0296
Museum of Science,         fax:           617.742.2246
Boston, MA
___________________________________________________________

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